Manuscript description

[Fols 1r to 2v are blank. There is a typed note at the front of the manuscript on separate sheet: ""Common Place Book [? of Countess of Huntingdon] Notes of Sermons, etc., and religious meditations. Temp. Jas. I."". A question mark is written after the date in pencil. Another sheet with same information on it, written in pencil, also exists.]

[Fols 1r-2v are blank.]

August 1625. Mr Awte's sermon; written out of my table books and so not perfected

[The text of the sermon is Jude 1:5-7. A heading in the left margin, " "Chap Verse."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

[Fol. 5v is blank.]

Mr Kemp's sermon taken imperfectly out of my table books, the text Acts 23:1

[The text of the sermon is Acts 23:1. A heading in the left margin, " "booke. Chap. Ver:"" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

Mr Kemp's sermon taken imperfectly

[The text of the sermon is Jonah 4:3. A heading in the left margin, " "Boo: Cha: Ver."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

Text. Mr Miller's sermon taken imperfectly; work out your salvation with fear and tremblings

[The text of the sermon is Philippians 2:12. A heading in the left margin, ""Boo: Chap ver."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

[Fol. 10v is blank.]

Untitled sermon notes

[The text of the sermon is John 5:14. A heading in the left margin, " "Book Cha: ver: Texte."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

[Fol. 12v is blank.]

Mr. Aderly. 1625

[The text of the sermon is Job 2:3. A heading in the left margin, " "Booke cha ver Texte."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

The second epistle of Paul to Timothy

[The text of the sermon is 2 Timothy 2:3. A heading in the left margin, ""Cha: ver."" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin. On fol. 14v is the heading ""sermon Nots""]

Imperfect notes taken out of Mr Miller's sermon

[The text of the sermon is Luke 2:37. A heading in the left margin, " "Bo: ch: ver"" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin.]

[Fol. 16r-v is blank.]

Mr Beal's for March 4 1631

[The text of the sermon is Acts 26:17-18. The biblical reference for the sermon appears in the left margin. The same title for the sermon notes appears on fol. 17v.]

[Fol. 19v is blank.]

An untitled meditation

The mortified man, is the only true sanctified man, he is not truly mortified that is not able to subdue the lusts and evil motions of his own heart

...

It is the devil's sophistry to sever the means from the end

[This meditation may be an extract from John Preston's treatise on mortification (see msItem 22) but since Hastings has not cited him this may be an original meditation.]

Notes out of Mr Perkins's sermon: leaf. 411.

[The text of the sermon is Zephaniah 2:1-2. These extracts were taken from William Perkins's Works, printed in 1631. His sermon, ""A faithfull and plaine exposition upon the two first verses of the second Chapter of Zephaniah"", appears on pages 411-427 (plus an unpaginated title page and dedicatory epistle). A subtitle on Perkins's title page indicates the subject of the sermon: ""Containing a powerfull Exhortation to Repentance: as also the manner how men in Repentance are to search themselves"". Hastings lists the five points made in the sermon (noted on p. 411 in the printed text), with some variants. The second half of her notes consist of page numbers (pp. 411-418 and 422) and the letters A-D in various combinations, with occasional quotations from the printed text. For example, she writes ""417. D.ABC.D"". Each page of the printed text is divided into two columns with the letter A appearing between the two columns at the top of the page, B part way down, C further down, and D near the bottom. This is obviously a way of subdividing the sermon into manageable chunks for easy reference. Hastings's reference to D.ABC.D probably refers to the paragraph after D in the left hand column, then the entire right hand column (A-D). In these notes she has largely provided a kind of index to the passages in the sermon she found useful. For a discussion of Perkins as a ""moderate puritan"" see Michael Jinkins's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article.]

Biblical extracts from the book of Matthew

[The extracts begin with Matthew 10:32-34 (though it is listed as book 9 in the margin), then continue with extracts from books 6, 7, and 9.]

[On fols 22r-23v are a series of charts. The first (on fol. 22r) is headed in one column, ""the happynes of ye Godly"" and lists Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 3:3-5. The second heading on that page is ""the vnhappynes of ye vngodly"", and in that column is just ""1 6"" (perhaps Psalm 1:6). A third column in the far right of fol. 22r lists a few Psalm chapters and verses. The page is otherwise mostly blank. The chart on fol. 22v is more extensive, with books, chapters, and verses listed. The chart on fol. 23r has books, chapters, and verses in the left hand column, then the main heading is: ""Bishop of Winchester Leafe"" with occasional notes beneath it (including references to pages 25, 35, and 38). Another column on the far right of fol. 23r consists of biblical references and notes. Fol. 23v is mostly blank but contains one heading: ""Hope: v. 15"". The reference to the Bishop of Winchester is to Lancelot Andrewes, and specifically to XCVI. Sermons by the Right Honorable and Reverend Father in God, Lancelot Andrewes, late Lord Bishop of Winchester (1629). Hastings refers first to page 25 beside the marginal biblical quotation to Colossians 2:9. She quotes simply the words ""and will allso"" which appear on p. 25 of the printed volume in the context of a passage discussing how Christ was sent to humanity in the fullness of time (""And well also might it be called the fullnesse of time in another regard.""). This comes from the fourth sermon in the volume, on Galatians 4:4-5 (though it is listed as Galatians 3:4-5). The second reference to Andrewes appears in the fifth sermon of the volume on Luke 2:10-11. Hastings has extracted and condensed a passage on the joy in hope from p. 35. Finally she refers to p. 38, a section from the same sermon which discusses Christ as saviour. Early in his career, in 1586, Andrewes was appointed chaplain to Henry Hastings, third Earl of Huntingdon, a man noted for nonconformist beliefs (see P.E. McCollough, ""Andrewes, Lancelot (1555-1626)"", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).]

[Fols 24r-25v are blank.]

Mr Miller Luke 1:53

[The text of the sermon is Luke 1:53. A heading in the left margin, " "Texte"" indicates that biblical references are noted in that margin. Some lines are crossed out in these sermon notes.]

[Fol. 29v is blank.]

Sermon notes

[The text of the sermon is Colossians 1:20.]

[Fols 31r-34r are blank.]

[On this page Hastings has written one line: ""Those y.t dayre goe downe into y.e Pitt of Predestination"." The page is otherwise blank.]

[Untitled meditations on biblical extracts, beginning with Genesis 6:5-7.]

[Fols 36r-37v are blank.]

Mr Miller's sermon; Ecclesiastes 7 chapter part of the first verse Karver's notes

[The text of the sermon is Ecclesiastes 7:1. The penultimate word in the title is difficult to make out.]

[Fols 39r-41v are blank.]

Mr Miller. Text John: 16. last verse, Be of good comfort I have overcome the world

[The text of the sermon is John 16:33. A heading in the left margin reads, ""Imperfect notes. 1"".]

Mr Burridge sermon notes taken imperfectly Text Psalm 126 verse 5

[The text of the sermon is Psalm 126:5.]

[Fols 44v-59v are blank.]

Doctor Preston of mortification

[A heading in the left margin, ""Leafe"" indicates both page numbers and biblical references. Hastings is quoting from John Preston's Sins overthrow: or, A godly and learned treatise of mortification (1633). Though 20 January 1633 was the date of Hastings's death she must have had access to a copy published shortly before that date. Hastings has noted the pages upon which her chosen extracts, both biblical extracts and Preston's commentary, appear. Her references to Preston all correspond with the passages in the printed volume. Hastings gave a copy of another book by John Preston, The new covenant, or the saints portion, to her sister Frances, Countess of Bridgewater in 1632. Frances's scribe recorded this in her library catalogue (Huntington Library MS EL 6495). Jonathan D. Moore's article on Preston in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him a moderate or fully conforming puritan. See msItem 11 for a meditation on mortification.]

[Fols 60v-74v are blank.]

A prayer in several parts

Oh my God to rehearse thy mercies to me it is impossible

...

run headlong upon my own ruin

[In the first part of this prayer Hastings thanks God for his mercies and prays for him to sustain her. The second section begins with the words, " "That God hathe Elected mee before the begining of the World I haue this Euidence"". The evidence is that he gave her a heart that believes in him and his word. After a discussion of Christ, Hastings turns from this confidence in her election to a lament on her sins and unworthiness, asking Christ not to forsake her. The prayer ends with the statement that God has shown his mercy to her, but that she has often run towards her own ruin. This prayer is written very roughly, with crossings out, writing above the margins and sometimes along the side of the page.]

[Fols 76v-90v are blank.]